Donna Bowater: Gales Wreck Wind Turbines From Scottish Storm

Fears over the safety of wind turbines in high winds have been raised, after one burst into flames and another crashed to the ground. A 100 meter tall wind turbine burst into flames in North Ayrshire, and in Coldingham in the Scottish Borders, a turbine crashed to the ground yards from a road. The two million pound turbine in North Ayrshire was not believed to have been spinning at the time. Fires can occur if extreme wind loosens or breaks electrical connections, whether turbines are rotating or not. Fraser McLachlan,, the chief executive of GCube, a wind turbine insurer, said he was expecting a rise in turbine failures due to the "exceptional" weather in Scotland. "We see turbine fires around the world when it gets very, very windy," he said. "They usually shut themselves off as a safety feature, if the wind gets too much, but sometimes there is another failure. "It can catch on fire for a whole multitude of reasons. It can be the mechanism going into overdrive. It can be to do with the connections or oil catching alight." He said older models of turbine were more susceptible to faults in bad weather. Modern turbines usually have a safety braking mechanism that turns the blades off, if wind speeds reach 56mph. The turbine in North Ayrshire was believed to belong to the renewable power company Infinis. It was one of 15 built to supply 20,000 homes.